Update and a Little Thought from Luke 17

Thank you for all of your prayers, and for checking on me. I think this may be the last chance I get to update you guys before we move--the big truck will haul our possessions away on Wednesday, and we're heading out Thursday. I'll do my best, though, to stay in hotels with a good wireless connection (heh) so that I can upload pictures of the cross-country move.

Ryan got the job he interviewed for in San Francisco (the job is in GA; the headquarters are in SF--just to clarify), praise God! So we are not heading home to an uncertain future. We've lined up an apartment. Now I just have to find a job...

I was reading in Luke 17 today, and this passage struck my heart:

Luke 17:7-10
"Suppose one of you had a servant plowing or looking after the sheep. Would he say to the servant when he comes in from the field, 'Come along now and sit down to eat'? Would he not rather say, 'Prepare my supper, get yourself ready and wait on me while I eat and drink; after that you may eat and drink'? Would he thank the servant because he did what he was told to do? So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, 'We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.' "

I think we hear more often about this passage, perhaps:

John 15:15
I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.

ACK! What is this? A contradiction? Are we friends or servants?

We are both.

I think, though, that in our culture and our day, we're more comfortable with Friend Jesus than Master Jesus. Paul reminds us:

Rom 6:16-18
Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness.

We are friends of Jesus who have the privilege of knowing the Master's business. Praise God! But we are also slaves, because as Creatures, though we have a measure of free will, we are either slaves of sin or of righteousness. Despite Satan's lies to the contrary, we cannot be "gods" who are independent of sin and redemption. We need Jesus, because without Him we are hopeless slaves of sin, without remedy.

And the slavery to righteousness is a joyful, freeing experience, borne out as we obey the One we were created to adore and serve:

Matthew 11:29-30
Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."